FanPost

Jameis Winston cleared of rape charge in FSU disciplinary hearing




Jameis Winston's path to the NFL just got easier. A decision has just been issued after a FSU disciplinary hearing held in early December with regard to the long simmering rape accusations against Winston. The hearing officer, a former Florida State Supreme Court Judge, essentially ruled that a preponderance of evidence did not demonstrate that the alleged rape occurred, and that the charges against Winston were thus not upheld. These charges alleged that Winston had violated the FSU code of conduct, and were not criminal charges. The local District Attorney had earlier elected not to pursue any criminal charges, for anyone who is not familiar with this matter.

The New York Times coverage is here.

First, lets get some of the legal mumbo-jumbo out of the way. "Preponderance of the evidence" is a legal term of art that essentially means that an allegation is proven by more evidence than disproves it. It is the lowest standard of proof used at the trial or hearing level in most, if not all US jurisdictions, well below the"any reasonable doubt" standard applied in criminal cases and less than the "clear and convincing" standard utilized in certain other types of matters. Essentially, it requires 51% of the evidence to prove the case. Preponderance of the evidence is the legal standard utilized in most civil suits.

The Judge in Winston's case stated that a preponderance of the evidence did not support the charges. It is important to note that the Judge did not say that a preponderance demonstrated that Winston did not rape the accuser. Reading the decision, it looks like a 50/50 proposition; the Judge did not accept either Winston's or his accuser's version as more credible than the other. And since it takes 51% to uphold the charges, such were dismissed.

Another legal term that we need to familiarize ourselves with is "collateral estoppel". What collateral estoppel means is that once an issue is determined in a judicial or quasi judicial forum, a party is thereafter prohibited from relitigating the same set of facts. Why is this important here you may ask. Because depending on how the principle of collateral estoppel is applied in Florida, this decision may very well mean that no civil suit can succeed against Winston, meaning that his legal exposure from these accusations may have just been eliminated.

Without wading too much further into the legal thicket, collateral estoppel is generally applied to any issue determined after a "full and fair" hearing where ordinary rules of due process were in force. The hearing that resulted in the decision for which estoppel is sought need not have had the same level of evidentiary scrutiny as a case tried in a courtroom. However, the hearing need be more than a cursory proceeding and each side must have been afforded the right to testify and have evidence presented. Whether the procedures employed at this hearing are sufficient for its determination to be afforded preclusive effect via estoppel I can not say, but it is worth noting that both parties did have the right to testify and offer evidence, including third party testimony, hallmarks of a proceeding from which preclusion might be applied. On the other hand, it is not clear if Winston's accuser was permitted to cross-examine him as he apparently read a prepared statement, a factor that might mean that the due process provisions employed in this hearing were not sufficient for its result to form the basis of collateral estoppel. Ultimately, should this accuser commence a civil suit against Winston, it will be up to a civil court Judge to determine if the hearing decision will bar the lawsuit. And that determination would in all likelihood be made during early motion practice, long before any civil trial, limiting Winston's exposure and preventing this from being further played out publicly.

One other caveat. Some forums, by their own rules or by controlling state law, do not permit their decisions to be used as the basis for estoppel. Should the controlling rules of the FSU disciplinary process or other state law prevent the decision from serving as a source of estoppel, then the accuser would have an easier time proceeding with a civil suit.

Another reason this decision is a huge victory for Winston is that it is the first time that these very serious allegations have been reviewed by a legal expert and-non biased fact finder, and found to be lacking. While many have said that the local district attorney's decision not to charge Winston should have been the end of this matter, in truth a DA seeking to criminally charge a person needs to be confident that the charges can be proved beyond a reasonable doubt, which is, as earlier mentioned, a very high standard. And in this case, there was the question of a botched police investigation that prevented a timely marshalling of evidence. In short, the DA did not say that a crime did not occur, but that he was, for various factors, unable to prove it to the applicable very high legal standard.

Whether one thinks Winston raped the accuser and has now gotten away with it, or that she made the whole thing up, NFL teams can consider and defer to this judicial determination that the accusations are unproven. And while this will not sit well with all segments of the public, any team wishing to draft Winston can take comfort from this decision. Additionally, all interested NFL franchises still need to carefully look into Winston's character, given not just this incident but the other incidents that he has been involved in, just to make sure they are investing in an athlete who will be focused on football and available to take the field, instead of being enmeshed in outside distractions if not outright criminal accusations. Having said that, the legal threat of this rape accusation has been greatly diminished, if not eliminated in its entirety, thus substantially clearing his way to a very high draft spot.

Whether the Jets should draft him, assuming the unlikely proposition he is still available at #4 - the Jets current draft order spot - now becomes more of a football decision. And personally, although I am against the league tolerating criminal and thuggish behavior, the hearing officer's determination makes this easier to handle as a football decision, which is a good thing. The charges have been heard and a decision rendered. Time to move on.

This is a FanPost written by a registered member of this site. The views expressed here are those of the author alone and not those of anybody affiliated with Gang Green Nation or SB Nation.